Hamas fighters hand over four Israeli women hostages to the Red Cross in a swap after showing them off on a stage at a square in Gaza

GAZA, Jan 25 (SABAH): Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas fighters have handed over four Israeli women hostages to the Red Cross in a swap after showing them off on a stage at a square in Gaza.

The four, all Israeli soldiers dressed in military fatigues, had been held captive in the Palestinian territory since Hamas seized them during their attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023. Hamas identified the four female Israeli soldiers as Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag. The four captives, who were in Israeli military uniforms, waved to the crowd as they were released.

The captives were seen, alongside Hamas and Palestinian fighters, on a platform in Palestine Square in Gaza City. They were seen grinning before being turned over to the Red Cross.

Amid cheers from Palestinians, the Red Cross vehicles left the territory.

Dozens of masked, armed Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters arrived at a key square in Gaza City on Saturday, where four Israeli women hostages are expected to be handed over to the Red Cross, an AFP reporter said.

Sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad told AFP they had deployed around 200 members of their armed wings, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades respectively, to secure Palestine Square where the handover was to happen.

The planned release comes under a truce deal in the Gaza war that is also expected to see a second group of Palestinian prisoners freed.

The Israeli military has confirmed the four released female captives have returned to Israel, Al Jazeera reported.

“Today, as part of these ongoing efforts, we’ve welcomed home four more Israeli hostages after 477 days in Hamas captivity,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.

Meanwhile UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of all aid staff held by the Houthis in Yemen, Al Jazeera reported. “Their continued arbitrary detention is unacceptable,” Guterres said in a statement, adding that the UN is working to secure their release.

The UN has suspended all movements in or around areas in Yemen under the control of the Houthis after the armed group reportedly detained seven more of their staff on Friday.

The Iran-backed group — which have been carrying out a military campaign against Israeli targets and vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protest Israel’s war on Gaza — have not commented on the latest detentions.

Meanwhile two senior Hamas members, whom Israel said it had martyred months ago, were buried in Gaza on Friday after their remains were discovered under rubble during the truce, AFP journalists reported.

Hundreds of people attended the funerals of Rauhi Mushtaha and Sami Mohammad Odeh during Friday prayers in the courtyard of the Omari mosque, a historic landmark in the heart of Gaza City that has been heavily damaged by Israeli bombing.

The bodies, draped in the green flag of Hamas, were carried on stretchers from the mosque to their burial site, accompanied by around 16 masked members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian group.

Hamas officially acknowledged their deaths in a statement on Sunday, saying that they had fallen as “martyrs”.